Packaging plays a crucial role in the cosmetics and perfumery industry. Not only because it has to preserve and protect the product and make it functional, but also as a reflection of the brand’s identity and positioning. Hispack devoted several talks to addressing the current situation and the trends set to characterise the evolution of cosmetic packaging.
Lucía Jiménez – Head of sustainability and standardisation – National Perfumery and Cosmetics Association (STANPA)
Jordi Camarasa – Nirvel Cosmetics – Head of purchases and projects
Pablo Jiménez – Martiderm – Packaging engineering manager
Ana Lasierra – Bella Aurora – Packaging manager
Joaquim Cons – Puig – Product stewardship and eco-design manager
The cosmetics industry in figures, according to STANPA
- Last year it underwent record 12.1% growth, positioning it among the major sectors contributing to economic expansion such as tourism (13.1%) and hospitality (11%).
- It generated 10,400 million euros in terms of domestic consumption.
- Spain consolidated its international leadership as the second largest exporter of perfumes. Sales to foreign markets amounted to 7,700 million euros, with a 20% increase with respect to the previous year.
- Greater awareness of well-being and personal care lies behind the 10% increase in investment in self-care products, which has reached 206 euros per person. These figures reflect society’s growing interest in taking care of its appearance and ageing in a healthy manner.
- The role of dermopharmacy remains fundamental, as evidenced by the 14% increase in demand for high-end dermatological products for facial care and solar protection.
- Professional services such as hairdressing salons and beauty clinics have also undergone growth (9% and 3.2%, respectively).
Sustainability-related legislation
The regulations on cosmetic products are very strict in Europe and the environmental regulations promoted by the EU are increasingly demanding. It’s therefore essential for packaging to comply with safety and recyclability standards, as well as the requirements on labelling and environmental declarations. But are consumers sufficiently well-informed when it comes to purchasing more sustainable cosmetic products? What unresolved issues do cosmetic brands face when it comes to sustainability? The experts gave their opinions on the matter and highlighted several issues:
– Collaboration: the need for brands to think in the mid and long terms, cooperating with each other, relying on external players such as STANPA and Ecoembes and creating consortia to join forces, keep track of the legislation and promote measures to enhance sustainability.
– Global sustainability: seeking sustainability with regard to packaging, but also the ingredients, so as to achieve social as well as environmental sustainability. To do so, product traceability is important.
– Priorities: reaching beyond the current legislation, striving for excellence in terms of packaging, without neglecting the fact that the quality and safety of the product come first when seeking efficient and functional packaging.
– Communication: brands must strive to guarantee clear, reliable and truthful communication and advocate ethics. If the brand claims on its packaging that it has replaced one kind of plastic with another and that the weight has been reduced but the new plastic is harder to recycle, is it really a benefit or does it just tell the consumer whatever suits it?
– Context: in some cases brands don’t bear in mind consumers’ feedback regarding changes to refillable and recycled formats and so on. We’re witnessing so many changes and technical concepts that consumers may find it difficult to understand the packaging and sustainability-related improvements.
– Education and training: the importance of brands’ training and education to increase their customers’ awareness of the changes to their packaging to achieve greater sustainability, the reasons why and the associated costs that these new measures may entail.
What experts ask of the value chain
Jordi Camarasa – Nirvel Cosmetics
Price and deadline: “what I expect and ask of my suppliers is for the situation to return to normal after the lack of supplies of certain materials in the wake of the pandemic. In other words, we want to be able to use certain materials at a reasonable cost because, ultimately, we have to guarantee fair prices and meet deadlines”.
Ana Lasierra – Bella Aurora
Traceability: “we need recycled plastic to be more traceable”.
Joaquim Cons – Puig
Information: “I want my value chain to know precisely how the things supplied by its suppliers are being manufactured. There exists a certain degree of complacency, a belief that if the delivery arrives on time at a reasonable cost, nothing needs to be changed, but we need to know what’s behind the manufacturer”.
Pablo Jiménez – Martiderm
Innovation: “I’d like to see more proactivity among suppliers when it comes to offering new solutions based on the needs of the cosmetic product, as many have particular conservation and application features, and the packaging manufacturer is a decisive factor”.
Good practices
Nirvel Cosmetics: Naturalz product line
In 2018 they developed a cross-cutting line of hairdressing and beauty products based on raw materials of organic origin, for which they used packaging made from plastic recovered from the sea and rivers in Malaysia and Indonesia. They also used biodegradable labels. This project won one of the AITEX Technological Institute’s awards last year.
Bella Aurora – material optimisation
They’ve carried out work to reduce the weight and size of their glass jars and succeeded in saving about three tonnes of glass per year with their redesign. They’ve also rationalised the formats of the cases and reduced the facings by more than 35% while optimising logistical issues such as the volume of their shipments and the size of the boxes. As for the labelling, they’ve removed it and decorated the jars directly to optimise the graphic design to ensure that the glass is recycled properly.
Martiderm – a second life for materials
They focus on reducing plastic and incorporating recycled plastic into their packaging. They crush the crates they receive the materials in and use them for picking shipments instead of using the usual air bags. Moreover, they’ve implemented reuse and recycling measures for the secondary and tertiary packaging as well as the primary kind.
Puig – holistic vision
They implement sustainability-related improvements across the entire portfolio, taking into account that they have complex designs with very specific needs. They thus attempt to make the maximum possible number of units by reducing the materials and the weight of the glass.
Cristina Benavides, Hispack contributor
